UN chief says Gazans seeking food must not face ‘death sentence'
NEW YORK CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that hungry people in Gaza seeking food must not face a 'death sentence' as controversy swirls around a new US- and Israeli-backed distribution system.
'People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence,' Guterres told reporters, without explicitly naming the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose operations have led to near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people desperate to get food.
'Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people,' Guterres added.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.
GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.
Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of that the entire population of the occupied Palestinian territory is at risk of famine.
The United Nations says Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is illegal under international law.
The densely populated Gaza Strip has been largely flattened by Israeli bombing since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas.
Israel began allowing food supplies to trickle in at the end of May, using GHF — backed by armed US contractors, with Israeli troops on the perimeter — to run operations.
'The problem of the distribution of humanitarian aid must be solved. There is no need to reinvent the wheel with dangerous schemes,' Guterres said.
The UN and major aid groups have refused to work with the GHF, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals and that it violates basic humanitarian principles by working with one of the sides in a conflict.
'We have the solution — a detailed plan grounded in the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. We have the supplies. We have the experience. Our plan is guided by what people need,' said the UN chief.
He said a 'handful' of medical crossed into Gaza this week, the first shipment in months.
'A trickle of aid is not enough. What's needed now is a surge — the trickle must become an ocean,' said Guterres.
Guterres said that as the world focuses on the conflict between Israel and Iran, the suffering of Palestinians must not be 'pushed into the shadows,' calling for 'political courage for a ceasefire.'
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